


Piece by Piece

by flippednique



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Slightly rushed, could be improved, end game IwaOi, one-sided OiKuroo, or is it one-sided?, we need Kuroo's POV, where the heck was I going with this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 08:28:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15239412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flippednique/pseuds/flippednique
Summary: “I’ll make you happy again.” Hajime begs. “I’m the one who’s been here for you all along. I’m the one who’s had to pick you up, piece by painstaking piece, every single time you come back from that wall and he isn’t there.”--Tooru stumbles into the glass wall by accident. He and Tetsu do not say goodbye, only 'see you tomorrow' until the day it all changes.





	Piece by Piece

 

Tooru stumbles into the wall by accident. He’d been running away from Hajime and his pesky bugs that the latter’s mother had gotten for him for some coin at the market by the harbor, when he’d taken a wrong turn and rolled some ways off the marked road.  

He hears Hajime’s worried voice, Auntie’s voice too, louder and less wobbly sounding. He scrambles back onto his feet, fully intending to get back on the main road so that they could go home and they would stop worrying. Auntie would make him stew after that fall. He knows she will, sure of it. It eases the pain in his knees and forearms where he’d landed and he grits his teeth as he tries to feel just how bad the damage was. He’s bruised but nothing was bleeding so it would be fine. He would be just fine. He should get going. 

It’s the clinking sound that stops him. _Clink. Clink. Clink_. There’s a rhythm. A beat. Like something, looping again, and again, and again. 

Tooru has to stifle his curiosity (unheard off for an fifteen year old) and go back so he doesn’t make Auntie or Hajime worry even more. 

“Are you okay?” Hajime demands once they’re reunited. He goes so far as to reach for Tooru, only to pull back, afraid he’d only do worse. 

Tooru waves his concerns away with a toothy smile. “I’m fine. Nothing broken, all whole!” 

Hajime doesn’t look convinced. In fact, he looks incredibly guilty, as if he had shoved Tooru of the road himself. Auntie makes the situation lighter, as Tooru correctly predicts her decision to make stew, proclaiming it as she hurries them home. Home. The small hut they’d been given when Tooru’s parents died after the recent epidemic and it was what they could afford with what Hajime’s dad sent to them from the mainland. 

They have a nice dinner even when it’s just the three of them though. 

Tooru’s eyes close when Auntie runs her fingers through his hair when he’s settled in bed. Hajime finds his way into Tooru’s cot without prompting. He has to try extra hard the next morning to keep from waking his friend. But he succeeds. He leaves them a note, in his chicken scratch handwriting that he would be back for breakfast; he just needed to speak to Issei about something. 

And he makes for the main road where he’d taken that wrong turn.

He doesn’t realize how far he’d rolled off to until he’s panting from all the walking he’s done. But he’s determined. What was that clinking sound? Or more importantly, what was making it? 

Tooru’s only heard that clinking sound before. When his mother had given him a glass marble and he’d accidentally chucked it one of their only three drinking glasses. The glass broke but the marble didn’t. His mother said it came from her mother too. It was special. Tooru had lost that marble to the fire that the villagers had used to destroy the houses the casualties of the epidemic had been in. Trying to keep the virus from spreading any further than that. 

But marbles were expensive and if Tooru could find one, he could sell it. He could help Auntie; maybe they can have stew more often. Maybe there was a pile of marbles here waiting to be found! And he’d be the one to find it. 

 _Clink_. 

Tooru hurries in his steps and smacks into something. He groans, all his pains from falling yesterday singing to life, with addition to his now throbbing forehead.

_Clink. Clinkclink. Clink!_

Tooru tries to open his eyes, which had closed from the pain. The moment he does, they widen of their own accord, pain forgotten in place of absolute shock and wonder. 

He doesn’t understand him. Well, in reality, he can’t _hear_ him. But Tooru sees him, and sees the wall between them. The boy’s golden eyes are wide, just as surprised as Tooru to see something like this probably. His hands are hidden in white gloves but they bang relentlessly against the glass wall separating them. Where had that even come from? Where did it go? Where did it end? 

Tooru scrambles to assemble his wits. He tries to make out what the other boy is saying. It frustrates him when minutes pass and he still can’t make up or down of the situation. 

“Speak. slow-ly!” He demands with a stomp of his foot. “My. name. is. Toh-roo!” 

The boy seems startled, as if he was taking the time to process what Tooru had said. Then he smiles back, pointing at himself and mouths very slowly and deliberately. “Tet-su-!” 

“Tetsu.” Tooru repeats, softly first to himself and then louder as if Tetsu could actually hear him. “Tetsu!” 

Tetsu gives him an enthusiastic nod, his fist banging on the glass wall in approval.

Tooru’s excitement gets the better of him and despite his earlier demands for slow speech; his words flow out of him like a fountain. _What was this wall? Who was Tetsu? What was he doing there? How old was he? Did he know how to read? Write? Why was he wearing gloves? But **really** , what was this wall? _

Tetsu’s face morphs into a state of confusion as he tries to make heads or tails of what Tooru is saying. Then he suddenly looks over his shoulder, says something that was obviously not for Tooru before he turns back to face him, his expression now worried.

Tooru manages to catch that, his questions stopping and he says, “It’s okay. Go.”

Tetsu makes a desperate face at him and mouths something. Tooru leans in closer to read what he says, his eyes focusing on Tetsu’s lips.

_“See you tomorrow?”_

Tetsu gives him a relieved smile when Tooru nods his head excitedly, mouthing _‘see you tomorrow!’_ in return.

When he’s gone, Tooru takes a moment to breathe, and then he leans back to examine the glass wall. It seemed to stretch up, and up, and up and maybe it curved a little? Like a bowl? A what, what did they call it? A dome? Well, whatever it was, this was an amazing discovery. _I have to tell Hajime!_

 _Hajime._ It’s that thought that reminds Tooru that he’d promised he’d be back for breakfast and he hurries to make it back home to keep that promise.

Auntie greets him when he rushes through the door; she has food on the table although she’s still busily whipping something that smells amazing by the hearth. Hajime is already seated at the table with sleep still in his eyes and a small frown on his face.

Tooru all but leaps at him, excited to share his discovery.

Hajime cuts off anything he could have possibly had to say. “You were gone when I woke up.”

In that moment, Tooru forgets about the boy, about the wall. He pulls his best friend into a hug and whispers, “Sorry. It won’t happen again” because he _knows_ what it means for Hajime to say that. Knows that Hajime hates being left behind the way his father does every time he has to leave. No goodbyes, just a disappearance after a night of sleep. Something missing with the coming of a new day.

Sometimes, Hajime is afraid to close his eyes because of it and Tooru is sorry. He doesn’t tell him about the boy or the wall.

He simply tells Hajime that he is here.

They are home.

Tooru wakes Hajime before he leaves, whispering that he had to run and do something but that he would be back. Hajime looks up at him from where he’s curled against his pillow and grunts before promptly falling back asleep. On his way out, Tooru thinks on whether or not he should take some paper with him. His handwriting wasn’t the best, but it would be simpler than trying to read Tetsu’s lips.

He decides that Hajime’s sketchbook won’t miss a page or two and hurries out the door, trying to beat the rising sun.

When he gets to the wall, he’s panting again, but he’s still excited, and the feeling was not because of the idea of finding marbles. It was the thrill of seeing his new friend.

Tetsu was already there, holding up something close to the glass. It takes Tooru a moment to realize what it was, and he laughs when it sinks in that they had thought of the same thing.

 _“Good morning!”_ the piece of paper read.

Tooru feels his heart swell and he pulls out a wrinkled page out of his pocket and writes ‘ _good morning_ ’ in return. They don’t stay long, just a few questions between them (they were _both fifteen_ and _no, I don’t know what the wall is for)_ before Tetsu is being called again ( _my dad)_ and they part with another ‘See you tomorrow!’ and smiles on their faces, excited for tomorrow to come.

They get plenty of tomorrows. The tomorrow after that tomorrow, then the next one, and the next one, and the next one. Tooru is getting too tall for the path he’s made to the glass wall. He’ll have to bring something to cut at the branches that get in his way or he’s going to come home with scratches on his face one day. Those branches weren’t there before, when he’d first discovered the path. But it's been three years.

‘ _You’d still look good with scratches on your face’._ Tetsu writes to him.

Tooru rolls his eyes and writes back, ‘ _Your charms don’t work on me, you know.’_

_‘You’re in denial.’_

Tooru’s eyes crinkle shut as he laughs, his heart fluttering in his chest. “Sure.”

Tetsu waggles his eyebrows at him, or it looks like he does. It’s hard to tell with his messy black hair. Tooru wonders what had prompted the change of style. When he first met Tetsu, his hair was neatly combed back; it matched his image with his neat clothes and his gloves hands. Now his hair looked out of place with the rest of him.

Someone calls Tetsu, his head turning just the slightest bit.

Tooru feels something wrap around his heart, making it feel heavy. Their today was up, but hey…

Tooru raps on the glass wall with his knuckles and waves the wrinkled piece of paper he’s kept all these years. ‘ _See you tomorrow?’_

Tetsu looks back at him, glances down at the piece of paper and smiles fondly at it. He doesn’t reply instantly, like he’d usually do. Instead he looks like he wants to say something, only to be interrupted by whomever it was calling him from before. He says something to them, quickly, heatedly then he turns back to face Tooru, places a hand on the glass wall.

Tooru presses his own hand against it, smiling when Tetsu gives him a nod before walking away. Tooru watches him go, waits until he disappears through the trees on the other side of the glass wall before he makes his way home.

Auntie and Hajime are sitting at the table when he arrives; the air around them is different. There are no smiles welcoming him. Auntie’s face is in her hands and her shoulders shake with her every breath. Hajime has his arm around his mother’s shoulders, his face pinched, his eyes teary.

“What,” Tooru swallows. “What’s going on?”

Hajime pushes a piece of paper on the table towards Tooru and he takes it, brings it close and reads of the explosion on the mainland and the government regretfully informs Mrs. Iwaizumi that her husband was part of the casualities. They would like to deliver compensatory wages and they were absolutely sorry for their loss.

Tooru drops the piece of paper and rushes to Auntie, wraps his arms around them, around Hajime. The woman he’s considered his mother for almost his whole life breaks apart even further and it makes sense because her better half was gone. Forever missing.

Hajime doesn’t look at Tooru even when they’re sitting close together like this. After, when Auntie is in bed and Hajime is taking care of dinner, Tooru tries to comfort him.

“I know it’s hard that you need to be the strong one now.” Tooru begins.

Hajime slams the knife on the board and cuts off whatever else he was going to say. “Just _stop_ Tooru. You don’t even seem like you want to be in this family anymore. Stop acting like you care."

“What are you talking about?”

Hajime rolls his eyes and goes back to decimating vegetables. “You’ve been more out than in this house for the past three years, Tooru. Just because we don’t comment on it doesn’t mean we don’t notice." 

“I work, same as you!”

“You’re always out before sunrise but you’re back for breakfast. What kind of work would you get at that time?” Hajime challenges. Tooru keeps his mouth shut, it’s not like Hajime doesn’t know about the boy and the wall. “If he means so much to you, maybe you should go be with him.”

Tooru startles at the suggestion and a hundred different responses come to him ( _don’t you think I want to?)_ but all he does is pin Hajime with a glare. “Why are you acting like this?”

“Like what?”

His mind searches for the right word, and even when he gets to it, he has a hard time bringing it out in the open. When Hajime doesn’t stop glaring at him, doesn’t stop taunting him for an answer, he lets it out. “Jealous.”

Hajime has no response; he doesn’t look guilty for being called out.

Tooru’s mind takes the time to process what he’s just learned. “But… but we’re best friends. Just friends.”

“To hell, if I can even begin to comprehend how deeply I feel for you, Tooru.” Hajime barks out a bitter laugh. “I never planned on telling you. I just,” he takes a moment to collect himself, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. “I just wish you’d appreciate what you have here. Rather than search for him out there. Is he even real?”

Tooru’s entire being bristles at the question, it’s one that Hajime has asked so many times before. “Of course he is! I’ve already told you to come meet him again and again! We can go see him tomorrow otherwise don’t keep asking me if you aren’t willing to go and see him for yourself.”

Hajime tosses the vegetables in the boiling pot and meets Tooru’s eyes evenly. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Tooru echoes, his emotions all over the place.

“Okay, I’ll meet him tomorrow.”

It feels weird for Tooru to wait as Hajime gets ready instead of watching him roll over to get back to sleep, but it happens. They walk the path down to the glass wall together. Hajime gets smacked by a branch in the face, Tooru would have laughed, if he didn’t feel so tense.

The glass wall is a familiar sight to him, but for Hajime it is completely foreign and he gapes up at it, craning his neck back to watch how it stretches up, up, up into the air.

Tooru leaves him there, venturing closer to where the grass had been flattened by his feet. He’s surprised to see no Tetsu, how odd. He was usually there first. Still, Tooru getting there ahead of him wasn’t unheard of. He proceeds to sit down with his legs crossed under him, fingers playing with the blades of grass around him.

Hajime doesn’t sit with him, choosing to stay standing.

The minutes pass. And pass. And pass, and pass. 

“Tooru.”

“He’ll be here.” Tooru says through gritted teeth, infuriated that this is the fourth time that Hajime has tried to get him to leave.

“It is almost midday. We’ve missed worked, the both of us.” Hajime reasons, or tries, daring to place a hand on Tooru’s shoulder.

Tooru shrugs it off. “Then go.”

“I don’t want to leave you here.”

Tooru barks out a laugh. “Why not? This is what you wanted right, to prove me wrong? Well, maybe Tetsu _is_ a figment of my imagination, Hajime. But you know what? I don’t care. I _know_ he’s real. So you can go ahead and leave and work but I’m staying here. He’s going to come. He’s come before and he will come again.”

Hajime doesn’t say anything to him, leaves him. Tooru notices, of course he does. But he focuses on the glass wall, notices every breeze on that side, and watches every leaf twitch, because he knows that Tetsu will show up. He’s always showed up.

The winds pick up and Tooru is surprised to feel cold. _Where did the sun go_?

Hajime is making dinner again when Tooru shows up, near freezing, his fingers practically blue. He sends a curse heavenward and drags Tooru to the fire, shoving the bubbling pot away to warm him up. “Don’t tell me you were out in the woods until now.”

“I won’t tell you then.” Tooru says.

“Tooru…” Hajime starts but doesn’t know what to say after.

Tooru closes his eyes and buries his face into Hajime’s shoulder.

Hajime sounds a little guilty and he cards his fingers through Tooru’s hair. “Maybe he’ll be there tomorrow.”

Tooru nods but stays quiet. But he does check the next day, and the next day, and the next day. It becomes routine, like the past three years where he’d wake up, wake Hajime, go see Tetsu, come home for breakfast, work a little, get his dues, have dinner, and rush to bed just so that he can begin again the next day.

Only now he wakes and makes his way for the wall. He stays there until it’s too cold to be there and Hajime warms him up by the fire when he comes home. Tooru’s not sure how long it lasts. Auntie thinks that he and Hajime have had a fight. She doesn’t intervene; she believes they’re old enough to deal with it themselves.

The routine changes a little when he realizes that Auntie is getting old, she can’t keep doing the village laundry for long. Tooru helps her, spends time wringing clothes, his palms growing thick and his fingers earning callouses.

‘ _You’d still look good with scratches on your face’._ Tooru wondered if that applied to callouses too.

He goes back to the wall once he’s helped out a bit. He stays there and he waits. Hoping. Just, just once more.

“Tetsu,” he’d whisper before leaving each night. “Even if you aren’t real. Even if you are just in my head. I just, I just want to see you one last time. Say goodbye. Or something. P-Please.”

Each time it is unanswered.

But he goes. He waits. He comes home. And it starts all over again. Like the pieces of a puzzle just reslotting itself again and again, unable to build the bigger picture, incapable of being whole.

“Tooru,” Hajime says as they’re bundled by the fire one night. "How many tomorrows will it take before you finally accept that you and he aren’t ever going to happen?”

Tooru inches away from his friend but Hajime doesn’t allow him. “When are you going to start to live? Please. You can’t see it, how broken you look. How dead your eyes are. You’re killing yourself and I can’t for the life of me understand why.”

Hajime is in a frenzy, his eyes wide and his entire body trembling. “Where’s the guy who teases me for tripping over rocks? Where’s the guy that looks up at the stars like they hold a million secrets?”

Tooru is drawn into a hug when Hajime asks, “Where’s my Tooru? I want him back.”

Then he pulls away and it’s painful, to see the tears in Hajime’s eyes, the way he nervously licks at his lips. “I know, I know this is sudden. And I know that it’s selfish. But, but Tooru, please. Choose me. Marry me.”

Tooru feels like he’s disconnected from himself. He looks at Hajime as if he’s seeing him for the first time. The hands holding his are warm but alien. The words he hears he hears but can’t understand.

“I’ll make you happy again.” Hajime begs. “I’m the one who’s been here for you all along. I’m the one who’s had to pick you up _, piece by painstaking piece_ , every single time you come back from that wall and he isn’t there.”

Tooru can’t respond, won’t respond. He doesn’t think he even remembers how to feel beyond waiting and hoping and Hajime seems to understand that and is determined to get something from him.

“I’m leaving, at dawn. There’s a ship that’s sailing for the mainland. I’m, I’m going to get on it, and I’m chasing my dreams. I thought, maybe you’d like to know.” 

* * *

“Hey, hold on Tobio.” Hajime catches the back of the boy’s shirt and tugs on it with just enough strength to stop him from barreling down the worn dirt path that was now slippery with mud.  

Tooru follows after them with a trembling in his bones. It’s been so long, years, since he’s gone down this road. He glances down at his shaking fingers, watches the sunlight bounce off of his ring. _He is married_. He looks down at Hajime and Tobio, the former pointing out little things around the forest and the latter asks if his Grandmother ever cooked the things she found there. _They have a son._

For a moment, there’s nothing but the sound of shoes squishing the wet earth, the memory of the one time he walked away from this place with nothing but the clothes on his back and the decision that he couldn’t lose Hajime. Then there are the memories that have made this place oh so familiar, despite being away for so long. Tooru looks to his left, stares down the sloped path paved with stones. The wind rustles the leaves, blows through his hair. 

“You know, it won’t hurt to visit.” 

Tooru looks away and faces Hajime, his eyes lowered, not sure if he could actually meet his husband’s eyes. “Won’t it?” 

“It’s been years.” Hajime takes a step toward him, conflict clear on his face. “Do you still carry him with you? Even after all this time?”

Tooru sends his gaze heavenward, afraid what his eyes would reveal that his heart would not. “I followed you, didn’t I?” 

Hajime looks like he wants to say something. Then he seems to think better of it and actually backs away. “When you left all those years ago to follow me, you didn’t get to see if he would come back that day, right?”

Tooru nods his head. 

“Then go.” Hajime’s lips tremble, a ghost of many regrets and several dozen questions making his smile shake. “At least say goodbye.” 

He doesn’t make Hajime ask him twice. He won't let Hajime sacrifice anymore of his happiness or his pride for Tooru’s sake. He watches them go though, waits until he and Tobio have disappeared down the path that would lead them to their village, the one that was a walk several miles from the harbor. He waits and pretends that he still isn’t shaking, that he wraps his arms around himself because it was really cool today from the rain (hence the mud) and not because if he doesn’t, he feels as if he’s going to fall apart. _Piece by painstaking piece._

Would Hajime still be there to pick him up? 

He stares down the paved road some more, knows that he won’t get lost if he went down there right now. That, even after all this time, the glass wall would still call to him and it would still feel like coming home. And Kuroo. Kuroo would still not be there. 

Tooru’s breath catches. 

Or would he, maybe, possibly, be there this time? 

A ghost of a smile crosses Tooru’s face. 

Would Hajime still be there to pick him up? Would Tetsu be there this time? 

Tooru takes a deep breath then lets it out like the pieces of a puzzle wrapped around his complicatedly confused heart. “Piece by painstaking piece.”

* * *

The sound of the door is what gets Hajime to look up from the stew his mother has left in his capable hands so she could fawn over her grandson. His heart is beating so fast he’s afraid it’s going to jump out of his chest. Tooru stumbles in, drenched from the rain, an absolutely beautiful smile on his face. A smile that takes Hajime’s breath away, and he struggles as he tries to remember where he’s seen it before. Then it hits him.  

 **Oh.** Hajime realizes with the weight of hundred brick walls. _'He was there this time.'_

Tooru greets Hajime’s mother like he is her son (which he is, has always been) and he pats Tobio’s head before making his way to where Hajime is frozen by the hearth. 

Hajime forces the lump in his throat to go away, like a potato wedged going down sideways. It hurts. But he puts on a smile as he refocuses on the onions he’s been dicing. He stares hard at the ring on his finger, glowing warmly from the light of their fire. Tooru was his husband. He tries to keep his shoulders from hunching together, fights back the tears, his ears picking up on Tobio bluntly answering his Grandmother’s questions. They have a son. 

It was **enough**. He had taken enough. Tooru deserved to be happy. And Hajime—. 

Tooru stops a breath away from him and Hajime forces himself to look up, pretends he doesn’t already understand what’s going to happen. “H-How’d it go?” 

“I don’t know.” Tooru says. 

Hajime drops the knife in his hand and it clatters with a sharp noise as it hits the floor. His mother shouts in surprise, Tobio doesn’t look bothered. 

Tooru’s smile is still there, still beautiful and there are tears in his eyes and it ruins the picture because Tooru is an absolutely ugly crier. “I didn’t go.”

Hajime doesn’t know what to say.

Tooru steps forward and cups Hajime’s face in his hands. “I’ll always be stuck with what could have been and all my hundred thousand maybes. But they can’t compare to what we have. And I know, I know that this is overdue but I just want to say that I’m sorry.” Hajime doesn’t know who is shaking, is it him or Tooru. Where did Tooru begin and where did Hajime end? Tooru pushes on, his voice wobbly as he tries to fight the tears. “I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that you are all I needed. That we are enough, you are enough. You have always been enough. I love you. God, I love you so much. I’m sorry! I’m s-sorry!” 

Hajime pulls him close, buries his face into Tooru’s neck. He hears it, hears everything. Tooru’s stuttering breaths, his equally frenzied heartbeat. “I love you too!” 

Then Tooru laughs and it breaks the thorns wrapped around Hajime’s heart, the wall between them shattered into a million pieces. Tooru puts  some space between them, his eyes crinkled nearly shut with his smile. “I’m home. All of me. Every single piece.”  

Hajime laughs with him, pulls him close to kiss him. “Welcome home.” 

* * *

 “I’ll be back later!” Tobio has barely got the words out of his mouth and he’s already out the door. It slams shut behind him and Tooru groans from where he’s desperately trying to get a few more minutes of sleep in his cot. 

“Where is that boy off to so early in the morning?” He grumbles, giving up on trying to sleep some more and sitting up.  

Hajime is sitting at the table, sketching. 

Tooru glares at him half-heartedly. “You better not be sketching me while I was sleeping.”

“Ask me no questions and I shall tell you no lies.” 

Tooru heaves himself off of the cot and makes his way behind his husband, wrapping his arms around Hajime’s shoulders, leaning into him with a kiss to the back of his head. He says, “Good morning” and his breath catches as he gets a good look of Hajime’s picture. 

“I never got to see him.” Hajime starts. “I’ve worked on this drawing for what feels like all my life.” 

Tooru reaches a hand out to lightly touch the portrait, his fingers trailing over the fine details. He is surprised but pleased to note that the thought of Tetsu isn’t as painful as it should have been. “You even got the hair right. How is that possible?” 

“You never realized how detailed you were in describing him back then, did you?” Hajime frowns. “Should I get rid of this?”

“I don’t mind.” Tooru shrugs. “Maybe we can tell Tobio about him someday. Help him understand about love and about acceptance.”

“Maybe.” Hajime nods his head, lifts one hand to wrap around Tooru’s arm lying across his chest. “Where do you think he goes in the mornings?”

Tooru pulls back and goes to get a glass of water. “I have no idea. The rain sealed off the path you made to the glass wall though so it’s not like he’s making his way there. Unless he’s managed to find a different way to get there.” 

Hajime makes a noise of agreement then startles when Tooru pours water down the back of his shirt. “Shittykawa what the heck was that for?!” 

“You were being too serious!”

“Get back here!” 

* * *

Tobio’s not sure how long he’s been there. It’s kind of hard to tell what time it is when the sun is hidden from him beyond the canopy of the leaves. Besides, he likes it here. Some of the other village kids liked to make fun of him. Here, he was okay. Shoyou looks just as content to be with him, his head leaning against the knee he’s hugging to his chest, not caring that his clothes were stained by the grass. 

It is quiet. They had eaten lunch not too long ago, but was it really lunch time then? He didn’t know. 

Tobio is busy sketching, trying to get the way Shoyo’s hair falls right. He startles when he looks up to find his muse gone. He drops his sketchbook, scrambling to his feet. Tobio takes cautious steps towards the wall, daring to get close enough to peer inside. He startles when something bright and orange smacks into him, or it would have if the wall wasn’t there.

“Shoyo, you idiot! You could get hurt!” Tobio stomps his foot with his emotions, his heart beat echoing in his ears. 

His friend smiles at him from beyond the glass wall, mouthing words at him that Tobio couldn’t hear. He squints, trying to understand what Shoyo is saying, trying to read his lips. He’s only mildly distracted by the tall man that shows up behind Shoyo, with his messy hair and gold eyes staring at him with a thoughtful expression.

Shoyo bangs on the glass demanding Tobio’s attention, this time he mouths his words slowly, making sure he’d understand them. 

“I’ll find a way to break this wall Tobio! But my dad’s here, it’s time to go home.’ 

Tobio feels warm inside. He nods his head and waves. 

Shoyou takes his dad’s hand with his left, waving back with the other, a smile on his face. 

_‘See you tomorrow!’_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, hey guys! First HQ fic ahhhh it had to be IwaOi please be kind ; w ; 
> 
> Who else wants Kuroo's POV/explanations? 
> 
> Nique


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